Merchandise-display rack.



A. T. EDWARDS.

MERGHANDISE DISPLAY RACK.

APPLICATION FILED MAB..23, 1911.

Patented 0015.24, 1911.

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COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH CD-.WASI1INGTON,IJ. c.

ARTHUR T. EDWARDS, OF OKLAHOMA, OKLAHOMA.

MERCHANDISE-DISPLAY RACK.

oocsea.

Specification of Letters latent.

Patented Got. 24, 1211.

Application filed March 23, 1911. Serial No. 616,369.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR T. EDWARDS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oklahoma, in the county of Oklahoma and State of Oklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Merchandise-Display Racks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved construction in merchandise display racks, adapted especially for showing rugs, curtains, etc.

The objects of the present invention are, to provide a rack simple and economical in construction on which articles may be advantageously displayed; to provide means for raising and lowering said rack to remove said articles when they are not needed, and to bring them into convenient position when wanted; and to provide locking means automatically operated which shall maintain said rack at any. desired level.

The invention further consists in the features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of one form of my improved display rack; Fig. 2 an enlarged detail in section of the locking means supporting the rack; Fig. 3 a view similar to Fig. 2, showing the position of said locking means during adjustment movement of the rack; and Fig. 4: a section on line 1-1 of Fig. 3 looking in the direction of the arrows.

In the display rack of the present invention, there is utilized a vertical support or guide post 5 pivot-ally secured at its opposite ends to bearings 6 which may be located adjacent the roof and floor of a building or be formed as part of a frame therefor. Slidably mounted upon said. guide post is a retaining member 7 comprising a horizontal carrying arm 8 supported by a diagonally disposed brace 9, having at its lower end a roller 10, which travels along the inner face of the guide post.

The arm 8 carries at one end a roller 11 which is adapted to travel along the guide post, when the retaining member is raised or lowered, as indicated. The lower end of the brace 9 is further provided with a strap 12 surrounding the guide post, which together with the roller 11 and its bearings constitute a stop for radial movement of the retaining member, unless at the same time the vertical support is rotated in its bearings. A vertical brace 13 extends from the arm 8 to the lower end of the brace to maintain said arm and brace in fixed relation to each other. Traveling over a pulley 14 located at the upper end of the guide post 5, is a rope or cord 15, which is connected with the rack as at 16 to enable the operator to raise and lower the same.

The positions in which the display rack is maintained upon the guide post 5 is determined by means of locking mechanism 17, which is shown in detail in Figs. 2 and 3. Said locking mechanism comprises an ofiset trigger 18, pivotally mounted at 19 in a housing 20, which depends from the arm 8. The said trigger comprises a body portion 21 and oppositely extending arms 22 and 23 which lie in different planes, as shown, the blunt end of the arm 24 constituting an acting end adapted to engage and look within recesses 25 formed in the guide post 5 at desired intervals. When the trigger is engaged with one of said recesses, the straight arm 22 will bear against the lower side 26 of the housing 20, as indicated in Fig. 2.

The operation of the trigger mechanism is as follows: When the display rack is raised by the operator pulling upon the rope 15, the acting end of the trigger 18, which has been engaging one of the openings 25, will be tripped, and the trigger disengaged therefrom. As the rack is pulled upward by the operator, the acting end of the trigger will bear against the face of the guide post 5, owing to the counterbalancing action of the arm 22, and will swing inwardly at the next higher opening to seat therein to maintain the rack in position at that level. If the operator continues to raise the rack, the acting end of the trigger will tend to seat in each opening 25 as it passes thereby, and when a cessation of movement occurs, said end of the trigger will seat in. the next opening therebelow to maintain the rack in position at that level.

The lowering operation of the rack necesthe rope 15 may be slacked in order to permit the rack to be quickly lowered. As the rack descends, the trigger will tend to reengage in the opening in which it was formerly seated,but owing to the speed with which it is moving downwardly, its passage by said opening being almost instantaneous, the blunt acting end of thetrigger will have no opportunity to swing inwardly and check the descent of the rack by engaging in said opening. This downward movement will continue uninterruptedly therefore, the trigger sliding by each succeeding opening too quickly to permit of any engagement therein. In order that the rack may be brought to a stop at a desired level, and there held, it is merely necessary to check its descent, and thereafter allow it to slide slowly .downward until the trigger is at an engaging level with the next opening; the acting end will readily engage therein becauseof the-fact that its movement thereby is so retarded as to aflord it the necessary opportunity in point of time to swing inwardly and engage in said opening. In order that there may be as little lost motion of the trigger as possible, and that the trigger may slide smoothly along the guide posts, the openings 25 are formed of a small size, no larger than necessary to admit freely the acting end of the trigger.

It is obvious, of course, that the rack must descend with sufiicient speed to carry the trigger past each opening before it can engage therein. IVhen the trigger is disengaged from any opening in the manner described, it is possible, particularly if the openings are spaced closely together, that the rack may not accelerate sufficiently to enable the trigger to slide bythe first opening in its descent. This difficulty may be overcome by first raising the rack quickly to disengage the trigger from the opening in which it was seated, and causing the acting end 24 by such sudden upward movement to swing outwardly and away from the guide posts so that the rack may descend by gravity below the level of its previous adjustment before the trigger can swing inwardly again and permit its acting end to reengage in the opening in which it was formerly seated.

In order that the locking mechanism may operate automatically, it is necessary that the trigger should be fashioned in a very particular way. The. straight arm 22 on said trigger is utilized as a counterweight therefor; and when positioned against the -lower end of the housing 20, as indicated in The acting end of the trigger, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, is formed some distance below the pivotal. point of said trigger, in order that 'when'the arm 22 on said trigger is upwardly swung, the retraction of the acting end of the trigger from the post 5 y will be quicker than if said end were formed in alinement with the arm 22.

In the construction of the display rack of the present invention, attention is particularly called to the fact that its adjustment is entirely controlled by one rope or cord. The operation of the trigger mechanism is by gravity entirely, and does not depend upon tension means of any kind. Furthermore, theposition of said trigger mechanism with respect to the rack as a whole is at the point where it is subjected to the minimum strain. The function of the trigger mechanism is principally to determine the positions in which the rack is to be adjusted, I

while the real strain of support forthe rack is communicated through the diagonal brace against the guide post.

I claim:

In a merchandise display rack, the combination of a merchandise retaining memher, a support upon which such retaining memberis slidably mounted, means for raising and lowering said retaining member upon said support, and a gravity operated catch member pivotally securedto said retaining member, comprising a fingered end, and an arm-like extension adapted to arrest the movement of the catch in one direction, and to exert a gravity force to swing the catch into operating position, said supporting member being provi'dedxwith a smooth flat face having. therein a series of pockets of substantially the same area as the-end of said fingered portion, substantially as described.

ARTHUR .T. EDWARDS. Witnesses RAY T. -TALBOTT, HARLAND MORLAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the (lommissioner of Patents,

Washington, 1). G. 

